OVA THE TOP

Artist Auctions Egg From Her Ovaries as NFT at Art Basel

“The child will be a child once they are born, not a piece of art,” said Narine Arakelian, who is selling—embedded in a digital painting—a contract for one of her eggs.

An Armenian artist was hawking one of her eggs as a non-fungible token at Art Basel Miami Beach over the weekend. Narina Arakelian, 42, brought a triptych titled Love, Hope, Live to the contemporary art air. The Live portion of the painting has been digitized as an NFT, a digital token registered on the blockchain, according to Page Six. It was set to be auctioned with an embedded contract promising an egg from Arakelian’s ovaries to the buyer. The artist said she hoped it would be purchased by a couple who have had trouble conceiving in the past, saying she was “happy to bring a child into the world through my artwork.” She clarified that “the child will be a child once they are born, not a piece of art.” Page Six, which first reported the story, did not say if a buyer purchased the painting at Art Basel. The fair, which ran Dec. 2 through Dec. 4, generated considerable excitement over its NFT exhibits. Visitors could view “climate-conscious” NFTs and mint their own “generative” tokens as take-home self-portraits.